Communication
Who do you need to involve in the project?
Any person with some sort of interest, whether they’re internal or external, is called a stakeholder. Think of all the different groups of people with whom you will need to work: employers, ULRs, providers, learners, other union members, Sector Skills Councils… the list will be long and varied. Stakeholders can be strongest allies or difficult partners. Their level of support is affected by how you engage, inform and consult with them.
A key task of a project manager is to agree with stakeholders what their role is and manage sometimes conflicting expectations. Consider having some sort of formal agreement between you and each stakeholder, setting out what both of you expect from each other - whether a contract, a Service Level Agreement or a Memorandum of Understanding. People generally like to help and feel involved, but confusion over expectations – on both sides – can lead to difficulties and take a lot of your time to resolve.
Working with stakeholders
- Identify high power and high interest stakeholders – these people can have a huge impact on your project
- Agree the key messages that you need to convey and to whom
- What do you need from your stakeholders: what support do you need from each? What role/s would you like them to play?
- Produce a communications plan showing how you will work with different stakeholders
- Involve your stakeholders in reading through draft documents, setting strategy and problem solving. They need to feel that they’re important and add value
Employer engagement
- With how many employers are you planning to engage, and in which regions are they based?
- Are the employers in a particular sector and if so, how will you engage with the relevant Sector Skills Council?
- How do you plan to recruit learners?
- Do workplace learning centres already exist, or will they be set up as part of the project?
- Do ULR networks exist, or will they be set up during the project?
